Once upon a time, there was a cranky old bastard who lived in the outback, now, this cranky and cantankerous old bastard, does not put up with crap for long at all, especially, the crap dished up in the outback for modern communications, called the NBN.
Some time ago, there were two drongos on a plane, and they thought it would be good, to write a brain fart called the NBN, down on a beer coaster, rather than a white board, as one of their colleagues did for funding grants, a few years prior.
This brain fart, known as the NBN, proposed a system of fibre optic cables to every home, business and government department in Australia.
At the time, the cost to do this, was considered extreme, that is, until the ConJob came along and sent our government debt soaring to the sum of around $1.7 Trillion.
Not all that long after the NBN brain fart on a beer coaster happened, the Labor government got chucked out for the game called, "shuffle the Prime Minister" and then, another situation came about, because a now ex Prime Minister, also had a brain fart, and decided fibre to the premises was too expensive, so he thought it best, if there were a few fibre optic cables, but to use the existing Telstra copper wires, to reduce the capital outlay, failing to account, or foresee, the NBN unreliability and maintenance nightmare this would cause.
Like many places, the outback has an abundance of old Telstra insulated copper wires, over 40 years in age, with the insulation breaking down from age and stress points, every time it rains (a rare event in the outback), the Telstra pits fill with water, and NBN services bite the dust.
This old Telstra copper is connected to what are called, NBN nodes, these are the interface for the old buggered Telstra copper and the you beaut, fibre optic cables.
Those fortunate enough, to have fibre to the premises are sitting pretty, with lightning fast internet speeds available, at a cost, of course.
People who do not have fibre to the premises, especially those a considerable distance from the NBN fibre optic nodes, had and have, serious issues of drop outs, speed reductions, unreliability, and frustration at their ISP and/or NBN Co., as endeavouring to have the failures fixed, is a frustrating nightmare, to say the least, for many.
PP experienced this frustration ever since he signed up for NBN services back in 2018, when the NBN was "switched on" in town. PP had hopes, his days of pitiful speeds with ADSL2, were over.
They were not, the situation became worse with the NBN, much worse.
At the end of January this year, after being told NBN Co., citing the faults did not beet their "criteria" and refused to accept the fault of short periodical dropouts, reduced speeds, difficulty accessing sites, even after PP was able to prove, there was increasing "resistance" on the Telstra copper from PP's residence to the NBN node, PP's fuse blew.
Prior, PP had spent around $500 in total, to replace a perfectly good modem, and a perfectly good CAT6 cable from the Telstra house box to the internal wall socket, at the insistence of NBN Co., with ZERO improvement, PP became a tad ropeable, well in all honesty, bloody furious at NBN Co., for refusing to fix the fault.
So, PP reached for the stars and found a satellite, a Starlink Satellite, and signed up for a Starlink service in desperation.
All the gear arrived two weeks later to the day.
PP installed the Starlink gear, and was up and running in 1 hour and 25 minutes, it took longer to install, because I placed the satellite dish on top of a 21' 6" galvanised wrought iron pipe pole, erected the pole and bolted it securely. The pole for me was necessary, to get the satellite dish clear sight over a nearby big tree, and away, from the reflective heat in summer, of my house roof.
Going back in time:
Last year, the FIRST step I took after a bit of research, was to install the Starlink app on my Android smartphone, (iPhone also has a Starlink app available). I used the app, to test if there was sufficient satellite coverage for out here in the sticks, and there was.
My NBN issues continued, with ongoing never ending battles fought by my ISP, to get NBN Co., to fix the issues of drop outs, poor speeds, and poor connections, with tests by PP, proving the faults were worsening as the line "resistance" grew.
Around the middle of last year, Starlink had a special for rural areas, the cost of $199 which at the time was attractive, but I was not cranky enough to take the plunge I should have taken at the time. The cost to me to enter the world of Starlink in January this year, was $599 for the kit, plus I needed an Ethernet adaptor which cost $60 and a pole adaptor to fit the Starlink satellite dish to my 21' 6" galvanised wrought iron pole, this adaptor cost $115.
The Ethernet and pole adaptors were sent from Sydney, and arrived quite quickly, the Starlink kit came from California, sent on the 7th February, and arrived at PP's place, 14th February.
So, did Starlink meet the expectations of PP?
It did, and then some.
The fastest download speed I have seen so far, was 406 Mbps, and the speeds are usually between 250 Mbps and 350 Mbps. No dropouts, at all, other than, one lasting 4 minutes 26 seconds when Starlink advised via the phone app, if I wanted to update the Starlink software, I pressed Yes, and the Starlink app keep me fully informed as each part of the process occurred, and soon, full service was restored.
Some of my prior research showed I should expect drop outs during storms, well, after a few storms, no dropouts at all, the service continued as normal, research also claimed the Starlink service performs better away from cites and large towns due to electronic congestion, this I do not know if factual, or not. However, the same research claimed Starlink would work well in remote areas, if clear of obstructions to the satellite dish, this was true.
So, for PP, I erected the pole with the satellite dish, turned the pole to face due south, connected the Starlink cable from the satellite dish to the Starlink router, and after a few minutes establishing a link, verifying my account, viola, super fast internet became a reality for PP.
My monthly fee of $139, was deducted a few minutes later, and now, PP is a fan of Starlink, and with good reason.
If anyone is considering the change, I have links provided which will help.
It took me from 08:25 to 09:50, to be up and running from scratch, it took longer, because of the satellite dish on the pole, a normal installation would take about 15 minutes.
Soon, Starlink will have a mobile phone service, and guess what, PP will be signing up as soon as it is available.
Useful links.
Starlink: https://www.starlink.com/
Starlink Satellites: https://satellitemap.space/
Starlink Forums: https://www.starlinkcommunityforums.com/
Starlink Australian Users Forums: https://www.facebook.com/groups/starlinkusersaustralia/
Starlink Mobile Phones: https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2024/01/03/elon-musks-starlink-launches-first-ever-cell-service-satellites-heres-what-to-know-and-what-mobile-phone-carrier-gets-it-first/?sh=1348765147df
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